Monday, January 07, 2013

Now let me share my heart with you. I'm sure many of you are discouraged in the aftermath of the National Elections, especially in view of the moral and spiritual issues that took such a beating on November 6th. Nearly everything I have stood for these past 35 years went down to defeat.

And good riddance. Progressives may feel under constant assault on the economic and civil liberties fronts, and rightly so. But on social issues we're winning hands down and overwhelmingly, relegating the archaic and hateful views of the James Dobsons of the world to the dustbin of history where they belong. It's hard to see why anyone would dedicate their life to standing athwart history yelling "stop!" and trying to keep persecuted minorities in their place. But hey, if they want to do that to the eternal shame of their descendants, so be it. The most fitting fate for James Dobson is to die irrelevant and despised by history insofar as he is remembered at all.

Of course, those victories are easier won: two gay people getting married threatens a lot of bigots and powerful religious organizations, but the real big money boys don't care much so long as they keep getting their tax cuts. Still, it's important to celebrate where celebrations are due.

Not that regression isn't possible. It certainly is. For all its faults, the Roman Empire was a far more socially progressive place than the Dark Ages that followed. An appreciation for the history of social regression in the wake of the collapse of empires and civilizations is part of why I don't buy into devolutionary, local-control anti-state progressivism. It never ends well.